Drones Could Inject £42bn Into UK Economy by 2030, Report Says

Drones Could Inject £42bn Into UK Economy by 2030, Report Says

New research released yesterday shows that by 2030, the UK economy could benefit from unmanned aerial vehicles (otherwise known as drones) to the tune of £42 billion pounds, or over US$55 billion.

With drones seeing a rapid increase in many major commercial and industrial sectors – mining, energy, public safety and agriculture, to name a few – the result could mean more jobs and economics gains for the post-Brexit UK economy.

The new research suggests that by 2030, as many as 76,000 drones could be flying UK skies, meaning that safe integration into airspace is more important than ever.

Done properly, the outcomes for the UK economy and British life in general have great positive potential. While all sectors would see an increase in GDP, the wholesale, retail and food services sector would experience the biggest impact (2.5%). This is followed closely by public sector – defence, health, education and rescue services – which would an impact of 2.3%. This sector is expected to account for over a third of total drone being used commercially.

Figure 1: GDP uplift generated by drones by sector

Of course, growth in the drone economy will require people to develop, design, operate and regulate UAVs and their integration into UK airspace. The potential for job growth could equal as much as 628,000 new jobs, the research says.

While this would also mean many existing jobs may cease to be, they would largely be related to risky and dangerous work.

For example, in the oil and gas industry, drones have already dramatically reduced risks associated with working at heights, which was the second highest cause of industrial fatalities in 2017 in the UK. The cost savings associated with inspecting a live asset can be over £4 million per day as using a drone to inspect the asset (such as a live flare) means it does not need to be shut down.

In the energy and utilities sector, advances in payloads and BVLOS regulations and compliance mean that drones are expected to replace helicopters in many applications, such as powerline and pipeline inspection.

Overall, the research suggests that improved productivity could equate to £16 billion net cost savings, and considering the fact that in some use cases, the use of drones in one sector will mean improved efficiencies in another.

Source: PwC

UK drones leader at PwC, Elaine Whyte, commented in the powerful potential that drones have to offer across a broad range of industries.

“The UK has the opportunity to be at the leading edge of exploiting this emerging technology, and now is the time for investments to be made in developing the use cases and trial projects needed to kickstart our drone industry,” she said.

I envisage that the advantages of drone technology will be well established within the decade – not only for business purposes but also for helping to protect our society, for example, through being used by the emergency services. There is a need for current UK drone regulation to advance to see the estimations in our report become a reality but it’s positive to see the government already taking proactive steps to address this with the draft drones bill.”

However confidence and acceptance of these new technologies must also be nurtured.

“In order to realise the full potential from drones, the immediate focus must be on developing society’s confidence in the technology to help drive acceptance and increase adoption. While drones are often currently viewed as more of a toy, by combining this emerging technology with the right business understanding and human insight there is a huge opportunity to help solve some of business and society’s most important problems,” she continued.

At an event held at the House of Lords earlier this year, Chairman of the BSI Committee on Drone Standards, Robert Garbett, said, “Drones, empowered by standards that can be trusted and relied upon are the key to many of our economic, transport, security, environmental and productivity challenges of today.”

Minister of Aviation Baroness Sugg said the research shows clearly how drones could significantly benefit the UK economy, and that the government is addressing this in their Industrial Strategy and Drones Bill.

“And they are already improving people’s lives – helping the emergency services and keeping key national infrastructure like rail lines and power stations safe,” she said.